We reported just last month that new home sales were up over 6% in October of this year but news over the holidays from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is that sales dipped 13.8% from that sexy six percent increase.
In November, we spoke with Danelle Guilbeau of Boulevard Realty in Houston who aptly noted then that she “hope[d] that this is a trend upward, but I will still remain guarded” mostly because of the first time buyer’s tax incentive was extended, causing new distrust by buyers who now believe Realtors cried wolf by insisting sales must be completed before the tax credit incentive expired.
The HUD report also reveled that the median sales price of new homes sold in November was $217,400 with a 7.9 month supply.
Despite the slide, could there be good news in store? Perhaps a pricing adjustment that could cause an upward blip in sales? Perhaps the “we’ll just throw in free upgrades instead of pricing new homes properly” movement will begin to die? Maybe buyers are focusing on purchasing resale homes over new homes? What good can you take from the news of falling new home sales?
